So today I decided to take some of my time to do some reading about sleep/rest. while I understand that muscle growth happens outside of the gym but the effect of sleep deprivation is unclear or miniscule (in my prior understanding).

Then I found this.

"Insufficient sleep will raise Cortisol and Ghrelin levels, decrease Leptin and insulin sensitivity, and lower BMR. Not a good formula for partitioning calories (P-Ratio) toward muscle protein synthesis versus fat storage when bulking, or optimizing fat loss vs. muscle loss when cutting (although when you diet, it’s actually better to be insulin resistant). "

This dawned on me as I've always felt reluctant to sleep. I usually forces myself to sleep as I need to wake up for work on the next day. I also always have trouble sleeping. My mind is sometime very active, even when I'm tired, physically.

So I'm trying to change my habit to sleep earlier (I usually sleep from 1am - 6am, I got on bed at around 12 but I just won't fall asleep).

do you guys have any food or meds that I can acquire without prescription to help me sleep better?




some interesting reads here.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=141109411
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20921542
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=137280743
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/sleep-prevents-ffm-loss

This post has been edited by GameFr3ak: Jul 14 2014, 04:41 PM

Do u consume anything or take naps before bedtime ? I went through this before and the feeling ain't nice at all the next morning .

I rarely take any naps, maybe just 10 mins of closed eyes but that's about it. My dinner is usually 2-3 hours away from bedtime.

What's your take on this? Would it affect muscle gains/growth?

Naturally sleeping time for everyone is not same. Some could sleep for 5hrs without no problem of gaining muscle., while some need 10-12hrs...

It is subjective. If you feel energetic after you wake up, then i guess no problem in recovery/gain/growth.

Some say deep sleep is the best but not often you get this..haha

I guess I'm not in that group of gifted people afterall.

Not really. Most of the changes occur due to lifestyle i.e. work,stress and etc.

Start with changes in your lifestyle then shouldn't be problem.

Lol GameFr3ak , honestly , I've no clue on the "Longer sleep = Muscle spare and fat loss" and "Lesser sleep = Muscle and fat loss" theory written in the links u've shared in which I've read through them . Although I have friend of mine who sleeps for only 3hrs everyday and he's skinny with muscle definitions , he does really intensive workouts and all but there isn't much details on his activities (or diet) in which can conclude that sleep deprivation causes muscle loss , plus he's near his 50s too . But 5hrs less of sleep could probably decrease in muscle growth as we all know that rest is important for muscle growth. Then again , the theory may or may not true

i usually slept for 8 hours a day IF i could. minimum at least 7 hours.

Um, this can be very subjective. Everyone has a slight variation of how much sleep is needed. I usually need 6-7 hours.

About muscle gains, severe lack of sleep (3 hours sleep nights) does effect my recovery and also impairs my ability to focus and lift in the gym . Thus for me, it could hinder my gains since I don't get a good workout and my progression is affected.

About ability to sleep, I don't drink any coffee, basically 0 coffee but it still takes me 1 hour to fall asleep. I usually sleep at 2am and wake up 9am. However, if I sleep with a girl with me, I can fall asleep instantly and even sleep at 11pm. So that's my solution to my sleeping problem.

Whether lack of sleep affects muscle growth is yet to be conclusively determined, IINM. However, lack of sleep can definitely affect gym performance/focus, which may lead to an injury. So in that sense it could impact gains.

Yeah, I guess this pretty much links everything together.

Thanks guys.

I've read somewhere that lack of sleep also hinders fat loss.
It's because lack of lack of sleep will put the body under stress so the tendency of the body is to store fat.
So for people out there cutting, have at least 8 hrs of your zzzzz's (based on the article I read)

this is my problem, i only get about 4-5hrs of sleep and whatever I do my midsection doesn't seem to lose fat...guess this is the culprit. just my 2cents...

This post has been edited by pangke: Sep 11 2014, 10:23 AM

5 hours is pretty decent also actually. Recheck your tdee and lower your cal intake. Measure and eat all your food.

Let me share this with you. Due to my wife's back problem, we have to use mattress that is slightly hard for the past 3 years. Couple of months ago we found this Akemi mattress topper and decided to give it a try, have been sleeping like babies ever since. My wife said, we should have added this topper from the very beginning....lol

It makes the mattress super comfy and gives you that plush feel of a mattress from 5 star hotel.

This post has been edited by Xccess: Sep 11 2014, 10:42 PM

nice. thanks for the tip bro
i really find it hard to sleep, just like last night i'd been lying down for more than an hour and still can't sleep
back then i down 2 bottles of beer before going to bed to help me sleep but stopped doing it since i don't want to be alcohol dependent

We noticed a significant improved as we fell asleep much faster, we used to chat when lying on bed but hardly do so because the comfort puts us to sleep. When you turn and toss around, it could be the mattress that is making it hard for you to find a right posture, Akemi mattress topper (queen size) cost us about RM280.00 during sales, well worth the money.

This post has been edited by Xccess: Sep 12 2014, 09:01 AM

maybe you can try meditation. it helps me to get to sleep even when I'm having a messed up mind full of thoughts.
and maybe you should try changing your lifestyle. relax yourself when it approaches your bedtime. switch off all the lights there is.
and don't resort to alcohol. it may make your fall asleep easier, but it affects the REM stage of the sleep.
http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/news/...8/alcohol-sleep

Sexy chat....ahem.